Cruise ship heads home after illness outbreak

Jan. 27, 2014
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The Royal Caribbean International's Explorer of the Seas is docked at Charlotte Amalie Harbor in St. Thomas, U. S. Virgin Islands, Jan. 26, 2014. U.S. health officials have boarded the cruise liner to investigate an illness outbreak that has stricken hundreds of people. / Thomas Layer, AP

by Mary Beth Marklein @mbmarklein, USA TODAY

by Mary Beth Marklein @mbmarklein, USA TODAY

A Royal Caribbean cruise ship is headed back to New Jersey two days early after an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness spiked over the weekend, the cruise line says.

A report posted online by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 577 of the ship's 3,050 passengers, or 18.9%, and 49 of 1,165 crew, or 4.2%, reported symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea during the voyage.

The cruise line announced the change in itinerary Sunday after inviting U.S. health inspectors to investigate and evaluate conditions on its Explorer of the Seas cruise ship during a port call in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The ship launched Jan. 21 from Cape Liberty, N.J., and was scheduled to return Friday. Royal Caribbean says Explorer of the Seas instead will return to Cape Liberty on Wednesday.

On Monday, Tweets from the account of Jordan Nobel, of Toronto, Canada, said the captain and crew were taking questions from "less than happy passengers." One passenger, Nobel's Tweet said, told him the cruise was supposed to be a replacement vacation for a cruise last May, when a fire broke out on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas. Passengers were forced to fly home and the company canceled sailings over the next several weeks. Investigators weren't able to determine a cause.

Joseph Angelillo, one of those who fell ill, said some entertainers were sick and shows had to be canceled. "If I can get off (the ship), I will," he told CNN.

Royal Caribbean said it was "taking several steps" to compensate passengers for the shortened trip. It also sought to assure customers scheduled for the ship's next voyage that "all possible measures will have been taken to prevent further problems."

Dr. Andrew Coggins, who teaches courses on travel and tourism management at Pace University, says a passenger likely brought the virus onboard after his or her symptoms subsided. "Last-minute cancellations usually result in forfeiting the cruise fare so if someone doesn't have travel insurance they are going to try to make the cruise as long as they can get from toilet to toilet," he said.

"RCI is taking the right action," Coggins said. "By returning early, they will get everyone off the ship and can do a thorough top-to-bottom disinfection. It will be very expensive in terms of lost revenue, refunds, and bad publicity, but they will protect the next sailing."

Ashley McCown, president of a New York and Boston-based crisis communications firm, said "the cruise industry as a whole ... has taken a hit," but added, "there may not be a long-term negative impact."

Earlier this month, the CDC reported a similar outbreak on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship. Last year, it reported nine cases, including one involving a Royal Caribbean ship.

In most cases, the cause was found to be norovirus, a gastrointestinal illness that spreads swiftly when large groups of people are contained in a small area such as dormitories, nursing homes and cruise ships.

The CDC reported last year that a new strain of norovirus had reached the USA from Australia. The norovirus season typically runs from November through March and peaks in January. Norovirus usually begins suddenly and lasts one to three days. Most people recover without treatment, but some require rehydration with liquids or intravenous fluids.

Royal Caribbean said reports of illness peaked during the first few days of the cruise. It said cleaning products and disinfectants proven to kill norovirus were being used to clean the ship before it returned to the USA. It said a full sanitization program would be carried out after the Explorer of the Seas reached its home port.

"New reports of illness have decreased day-over-day, and many guests are again up and about. Nevertheless, the disruptions caused by the early wave of illness means that we were unable to deliver the vacation our guests were expecting," Royal Caribbean Cruises said in a statement.

On Friday, an Explorer of the Seas passenger named Arnee Dodd tweeted that she had fallen ill aboard the ship and was quarantined with other sick people. The Connecticut woman wrote that ship employees "put a lockdown on food & are constantly cleaning everything."